Warrington to offer schools ‘wireless-as-a-service’

Borough council looks to appoint supplier for new WiFi addition to its schools ICT portfolio

Credit: Dave Thompson/PA Wire/Press Association Images

Warrington Borough Council is seeking a supplier to provide “wireless-as-a-service” (WaaS) connectivity to the town’s schools.

The council wishes to add a WaaS offering to its own-brand ICT Service for Schools portfolio. It is seeking a provider that can offer “an affordable fully managed, secure, high-speed, agile wireless networking solution that can be deployed on school networks to provide resilient and improved WiFi performance”.

Once a WaaS provider has been chosen, Warrington intends that schools in the borough will be able to place “call-off orders” for contracts of between three and five years. The supplier will then – acting as a proxy for the borough – provide the school in question with an on-demand wireless service.

“The council shall not commit to a minimum level of service or volume of orders, it will only place orders with the provider as schools take up the service from the council’s ICT Service for Schools,” the council added.

Warrington is looking to award a single supplier with a two-year central contract, that could be extended by two further 12-months periods, if required.

Potential suppliers have until 15 December to bid for the contract, which is scheduled to go live on 1 February.